Lots has been written about quarantine and closing borders domestically (US) but not much else.
Hi Brandon,
I think that rather than thinking about "domestic" ethical issues in connection with the Ebola epidemic, we should focus on the epidemic as further evidence of Globalization diminishing the relevance of the nation-state and its imaginary boundaries. We live in a time of fluid borders and porous nationalities brought on by ease of travel, technological innovations, an aggressive global media and an equally obdurate "global civil society" made up of transnational NGOs. This denies us the intellectual luxury of viewing global issues such as HIV/AIDS, global warming and, now, Ebola from the narrow lens of a domestic crisis.
Remember how the 2008 "domestic" financial crisis brought on by "domestic" hubris in the U.S. financial industry ("securitization," toxic loans, etc.) spread like wildfire to the rest of the world? While I have described the morally challenged financial industry in terms of the weaknesses of domestic regulatory agencies (see "After Shame...." among my RG publications), I definitely do not view the lack of moral fiber in the financial industry as a "domestic ethical issue". Indeed, it reflects a pandemic of global amorality brought on by the enhanced respectability of "Neoliberalism" as a euphemism for moral decay.
Gwen
An interesting article related to, has been published in The Lancet:
"Ethical considerations of experimental interventions in the Ebola outbreak"
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673614613155
The current Ebola crisis keeps relevance as an ethical issue. The closing of borders is a key issue to consider. Should the developed countries which are basically Ebola-free isolate themeselves from this crisis. The knowledge and medical technology can´t be denied to those who are suffering from the crisis, however as we have seen it implicates to compromise health and lives of personnel moving to other countries to assist the populations and also bringing infected people into the non-affected countries. This issue is related to the fact that intervening health personnel are in a high risk to contract the disease and die. Better protection equipment is reducing the risk, but not totally to zero.
Another ethical issue which the ebola epidemic has raised is forced quarantine of health-care workers-- nurses and physicians who have returned to their native U.S. after treating ebola patients in Africa--, Local governments-- for instance, Gov. C. Christie´s State of New Jersey-- have imposed isolation and enclosure on certain nurses, who have afterwards sued for infringement of their freedom of movement when the disease did not warrant it.
Hi Gwen,
Am currently working in Sierra Leone as an Information Management Consultant with WHO and there are a lot of ethical issues.Implementation of the quarantine in itself is a big challenge.To quarantine the households, you must ensure they have enough basic needs e.g food, water, but this is not the case.
There seemed to be an issue for which there was no winning answer. That is, in the face of an epidemic with no established efficacious treatment some would argue that whatever was provided to the Americans at Emory University and in Iowa should have been provided to the frontline health workers in the affected countries (post-hoc analysis). If the treatment protocols (read experimental) had been undertaken in the affected countries AND if they were unsuccessful there would have been criticism for experimenting on black Africans. In the end, it seems that the best protocol for treatment may have been available all along---early case identification and hospitalization and fluid/electrolyte replacement.
Scientists tell us that EVD can still be in the semen for 90 days.We have heard of stories where male survivors forcefully sleep with their wives which is against the advice they receive during discharge.The wives ends up being infected and die another ethical issue
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